SEATTLE — OK, full disclosure. I’m a lifelong University of Washington football fan.
As a Seattle native whose parents are former Husky season-ticket holders, I grew up wearing purple and gold. I had to come to terms with accepting a song by Prince I disliked, solely because it was adopted by the Purple Reign defense. My dorm room my freshman year of college was adorned by a poster featuring Steve Emtman. So I tend to pay attention to the Dawgs.
However, in my new position at The Herald, I’ve been fully immersed in the Seahawks, meaning that before Saturday I hadn’t watched a single down of Husky football this season. Therefore, I decided I needed to head out to Saturday’s Pac-12 opener against Cal to find out whether this was a Washington team worth getting excited about.
I’d read the headlines. I’d heard the chatter. Sure, expectations were low for the Huskies before the season began, given the heavy losses on defense and the question marks about the quarterback position. But the previous two weeks had generated more than a glimmer of hope. Sacramento State and Utah State aren’t exactly contenders for the College Football Playoff, but Washington dispatched both with relative ease, and the quarterback questions seemed to be answered by a hotshot true freshman named Jake Browning.
Maybe, just maybe, the Huskies had a surprise in store for us all this season. Saturday’s game against the undefeated Bears would be my chance to gauge whether that was true.
So what did I discover? Well, while the Cal game may not have triggered the airbags on the Husky bandwagon, the Bears certainly forced the brakes to get pumped a little bit.
Give the Huskies credit for spunk. This game, which Washington lost 30-24, easily could have been over when Cal opened the second half with a three-and-out on defense, followed by a four-play, 62-yard touchdown drive to give the Bears a 27-7 lead. At that point Washington was getting out-gained nearly four-to-one, and it would have been easy for the Huskies to shut up shop and slink into the bye week licking their wounds. But Washington made a game of it, and the Huskies even had the ball late in the game with a chance to win. That’s something that deserves credit and may be worth getting encouraged about.
However, so much of what Washington did right Saturday came with a “but.”
Browning, coming off back-to-back 300-yard passing games, moved the offense during the second half to get Washington in position to potentially win the game. But, it wasn’t until late in the second quarter that he completed a pass to an actual teammate, as too often he held onto the ball too long and threw behind open receivers. Then with the game still in the balance at the end, all Browning could come up with was a couple of run-for-your-life scrambles and an interception on a desperation throw.
Running back Dwayne Washington was effective every time he was handed the ball, gaining 109 yards on a mere 10 carries. But, he coughed up the ball at the most inopportune moment, ending a promising fourth-quarter drive that could have given the Huskies the lead.
Washington’s young defenders showed they know how to hit. But, they still need some coaching when it comes to wrapping up as Cal’s running backs bounced off attempted tackles an alarming number of times. Meanwhile, Bears quarterback Jared Goff consistently found holes in the Huskies’ zone coverage and would have topped 400 yards if not for some blatant drops by his receivers.
Almost all of those issues can be chalked up to youth, which this Husky team has in overabundance. Youth can be a good thing. It means this team’s potential growth rate is greater than a team full of seniors, and there’s a chance Washington is significantly improved two months from now. That’s something Husky fans can hang their hopes on.
“After having all these guys leave last year, these young guys are more hungry and they aren’t going to back down from anything,” Washington said. “Even with the loss they will come back strong.”
But by the time this year’s Huskies reach that maturity point, where will they be? Washington’s upcoming schedule is the absolute definition of running the Pac-12 gauntlet. Going into this week there were six Pac-12 teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. The Huskies next five opponents — USC, Oregon, Stanford, Arizona and Utah — happen to be five of those. If the Huskies can’t beat Cal at Husky Stadium, where Washington has lost to he Bears just three times in the past 40 years, what’s going to happen against those ranked teams? Washington could continue on its improvement arc, yet still find itself at the end of a six-game losing streak.
“It’s not going to get any easier, we know that,” UW coach Chris Petersen said. “Everybody’s good in this league, you have a new challenge, and that’s the hard thing with having a young team.
“But these guys will come back. It’s way too early in the season.”
Maybe Petersen’s right. Maybe Saturday’s first half was the aberration rather than the rule. Maybe Saturday was a learning experience for Browning and he’ll be back to his 300-yard ways his next time out. Maybe the defense will clean up the mistakes.
But as a fan did I conclude I should be excited about these Huskies?
Let’s just say I won’t be making any vacation plans for around bowl season just yet.
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